Because this has been a relatively mild winter, we didn’t have to wait too much for a chance to take the kayak on its inaugural voyage. On February 17 we had perfect weather—not too cool or too sunny and, more importantly, not windy or even breezy. We had decided that Pillar Point Harbor would be an appropriate first outing because it was protected, flatwater, but open and not terribly tidal (i.e. don’t worry about the tide going out too quickly and stranding you in a channel inside a slough) plus it is just down the coast from us in Princeton-by-the-Sea near Half Moon Bay. We knew we were going, but being inexperienced we did not plan much beyond that. The morning dawned and we realized that we did not have much clothing that is not cotton, just a single surf shirt and our surf socks. The saying around cold water is “cotton kills” so we headed out to a local sporting goods store to pick up some clothing made of unnatural material (we aren’t quite ready to go whole hog with wet or dry suits). That killed some time and then attaching the roof rack, loading up the gear and kayak killed even more time. (Did I mention that the kayak is too long to maneuver into the area next to the garage so instead we have to mince our way through the front garden to store it around the side of the house?) We hit the road much later than intended.
When we arrived in Princeton-by-the-Sea we discovered that the parking areas were fairly crowded. When we investigated the first area we decided that the path to the beach was too uneven to safely portage the kayak over and headed to the second where we had to park down the street from the beach access path. We changed into our surf socks and unloaded the kayak and filled it with the gear. Just as we reached the path, a nearby space was vacated so John went back and moved the car to that space. We then headed down the beach. This was when the tide was against us in that it was low tide and so the beach was longer, something you really notice when carrying a 90 pound, 17 foot kayak. Finally we donned our PFDs and put in. It was as we were putting in that I realized just how much purple I have—the kayak is purple, my surf shirt is purple, and my PFD is purple so though my pants are black, once I am in the kayak it’s purple all the way. At least John’s PFD and surf shirt are both red. Once in the water we paddled out to investigate a wreck, don’t know the story there, but as we continued to paddle we noticed other boats were nearing the wreck point to so presume that sometimes folks just abandon their boats. We then turned and headed toward the Barbara’s Fish Trap end of the harbor. Shared the water with a number of birds, but realized we hadn’t brought our bird guide. We saw some with odd orange and yellow beaks with white patches on the backs of their heads (later id’ed as surf scoters) and others with funny black and white heads (buffleheads). Birds we did recognize included grebes (later confirmed as Western grebes) and coots. From Barbara’s Fish Trap we edged around the harbor ’til we neared the entrance and turned back toward the center to avoid potential traffic, made a little jog to the other end and took a look at the beach over which you can portage to access the ocean. We’ll have to get a whole lot more experience before we even think about doing that, particularly as Mavericks is near there.
Returning to where we put in we were glad that we had snagged a closer parking space as the beach was still very wide and we were getting pretty tired of carrying the kayak. We loaded it back on the roof, tied on the bright orange flag, and headed home. As a result of this outing we added paddle boots (surf socks just don’t cut it for long periods, your feet get cold), towel for cleaning sand off our feet, and cockpit covers to our list of gear to gather. And we should also get some sort of camera that can go near (in?) the water.
On Wednesday, we realized that we had been doubly eited as far as the tides go. This was the week of the total lunar eclipse so not only was it low tide it was low tide near a full moon with the moon in a position to have extended influence on the tide.